Southern Cross Austereo Opts Out Of Cricket Radio Rights

Radio network Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has announced it will not be seeking to acquire broadcast rights for cricket.

John Kelly, chief operating officer at SCA, said that after assessing its business and line-up, the company has made a commercial decision to pursue alternative summer programming.

“We will not be seeking a new broadcast agreement with Cricket Australia,” she said.

Mike Fitzpatrick, head of content at Triple M, said: “Broadcasting cricket on Triple M for the past two seasons of summer cricket, including an Ashes Tour, has been great fun and our listeners loved it.

“We’ve successfully appealed to both cricket lovers and a broader radio audience, injecting comedy and entertainment, while our diverse line-up delivered knowledgeable and informative commentary.

“I would like to thank all the talented commentators and staff who have worked on our cricket coverage for the past two years and I would like to thank Cricket Australia for the opportunity they have provided us.”

Fairfax recently reported that while SCA and Macquarie wanted to continue broadcasting cricket, it’s likely they weren’t prepared to pay a lot more for the rights than what they did when signing that last deal in 2013.

Macquaire Media CEO Adam Lang told B&T that the commercial broadcaster was in ongoing communications with CA, “as we have during the course of our last rights agreement”.

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